She didn’t have to remember Palm Beach to feel dirty again.His look was lewd enough to do it.She wrapped her arms around herself to ward off the feeling.“I’ve never given him money or tried to get a promotion for him.I haven’t given him a thing.So why’s he hanging around?”
“Because this is all part of the plan.First he seduces you, then he makes you dependent on him physically, then he starts hitting you up for favors.”
“Is that how you work?”she blurted.
He slapped her hard across the face.
Her hand flew to the spot, but she was more aware of the tears in her eyes.They were a sign of weakness, which was the last thing she wanted to show John.So she said, “Did I hit it right?”
“You have a fresh mouth.I should have done that years ago.”
“If you had, I’d have reported you for child abuse.”
“For a slap across the face?I think not.”
“But you’ve got it in you for more,” she lashed back, “and we both know it.You have a mean streak.Deep down, under that expensive suit of yours, you’re no better than a street fighter.”
Before she could move from his reach, he closed alarge hand around a fistful of her sweatshirt and hauled her close.
“And you,” he said in a fury of clenched teeth, “are a bitch.I don’t want to hear what you have to say.I don’t want to see you.Just stay here and study.Stay away from Maine.And stay away from Cutter Reid.If you don’t, you’ll have yourself to blame for what happens.Do I make myself clear?”
“Let go of me.”
He hoisted her higher.“Do I make myself clear?”
“I hate you.”
“The feeling’s mutual.Now, are we in agreement about the other?Do you understand what I expect of you?”
“I understand that as soon as I’m legally of age, I can tell you to fuck off.”
His nostrils flared at her choice of words, but that was the only satisfaction she got.“Wrong, sweetheart.”He twisted his hand to lift her even higher, while he put his mouth by her cheek and spoke with lethal quiet.“What I’m saying has nothing to do with age.It has to do with power.I have it, you don’t.I control the trust fund, I control the stock.You won’t have a voting seat on the board until you’re twenty-five, and by that time I’ll have the board stacked my way.So the best you can do when you turn eighteen is run away, and I won’t be able to bring you back.”He took a deep breath, seeming to inhale her essence before spitting it out in a contemptuous snarl.“If you want to run away, be my guest.I don’t want you.”Releasing her forcefully, he turned on his heel and left.
Pam went to see her mother the next day.She sat quietly with her, not saying much, staring blindly out at the gray December landscape.After a time, she took her hand.It was pale and delicate, not quite limp, not quite directed, an apt representation of Patricia herself.The longer Pam looked at it, the more carefully she traced the fragile webwork of veins, the more devastated she felt.She was thirteen again, lost and alone and frightened because everything that had been good in her life was being taken away.And suddenly it didn’t matter that she was nearly eighteen or that Patricia was to be protected.Unable to hold it in any longer, Pam bent over that hand and began to cry.
“I don’t know—what to do—things are so wrong—I need help—Mommy.”
She wept softly, losing track of time in her grief.Somewhere in its midst, she felt Patricia’s fingers close around hers, and she held on for dear life.
Chapter 15
Cutter put his back to the phone booth door and lowered his head over the receiver.“Pamela St.George, please.”
“Just a minute.”The voice was that of another of the students in Pam’s dorm and was accommodating enough.Whether the girl could produce Pam was another story.He had already tried twice without luck and was uneasy.They hadn’t talked in five days, which wasn’t unusual, but he had expected her in Timiny Cove that morning, and she hadn’t shown.He had checked the big brick house and found it locked tight.He wasn’t waiting to get back to his place to try her again at the dorm.
“I’m sorry,” the voice came back, “but she isn’t here.”
“Do you know where she is?”
“No.”
“Do you know when she’ll be back?Has she signed out?”
“I don’t know.”
“Can you check?”he asked impatiently, then sighed.“I was supposed to meet her this morning.I’m worried.”
“She was here a little while ago.I saw her myself, and she looked fine.Do you want to leave a message?”